Eversource Energy says it plans to issue and sell as many as 6.9 million shares of its common stock this month to help fund its pending $1.1 billion purchase of a Massachusetts-based gas utility responsible for a series of deadly explosions in 2018.
The deal with Columbia Gas parent NiSource was announced in February, about 18 months after the explosions occurred in the Merrimack Valley communities of Andover and Lawrence, killing one person and injuring more than 20. The explosions were the result of excessive pressure in gas lines, investigators said.
The deal is slated to close Sept. 30, Eversource said.
The company’s public offering, announced Thursday morning, includes 6 million shares with an option for the underwriters — Goldman Sachs, Barclays Capital and Citigroup — to acquire as many as 900,000 more shares within 30 days.
The offering has not yet been priced, but based on the company’s June 10 share price and depending on how many shares are ultimately sold, it could be worth approximately $517 million to $595 million, before underwriting fees and other costs.
Eversource shares were trading around $84.27 on Thursday mid-morning, down about 2% from Wednesday’s closing price.
The issue would increase Eversource’s total number of outstanding shares by about 2%.
Eversource, which maintains dual headquarters in Hartford and Boston, would be adding 330,000 new customers and more than 5,000 miles of distribution pipeline in the Bay State once the deal closes. It currently has approximately 4 million customers across Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
